Apparatus for the coupling of a mobile roll trailer

ABSTRACT

A coupling apparatus, especially for coupling a traction vehicle to a trailer vehicle in which a socket on one vehicle receives the free end of an arm on the other vehicle with the socket having a region intermediate the ends the same width as the arm and tapering out rearwardly from the said region. The arm tapers inwardly toward the free end and the socket includes centering means to engage the arm and center it in the socket.

United States Patent 1 Fiala Oct. 9, 1973' APPARATUS FOR THE COUPLING OFA MOBILE ROLL TRAILER [75] Inventor: Winfried Fiala, Korntal, Germany[73] Assignee: Martin Fiala KG, Korntal, Germany [22] Filed: Mar. 9,1972 [21] ApplJNo; 233,096

[52] US. Cl. 280/425, 214/505 [51] Int. Cl...., B62d 53/06, 360d 1/00[58] Field of Search 280/425 A, 423 B [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 6/1969 Cramer 280/425 A 11/1945 7 Pointer 280/425 A X3,207,338 9/2965 Felborn 280/425 R X Primary Examiner-Leo FriagliaAssistant Examiner-J. Rubenstein Attorney-Walter Becker [57] ABSTRACT Acoupling apparatus, especially for coupling a tracti'on vehicle to atrailer vehicle in which a socket on one vehicle receives the free endof an arm on the other vehicle with the socket having a regionintermediate the ends the same width as the arm and tapering outrearwardly from the said region. The arm tapers inwardly toward the freeend and the socket includes centering means to engage the arm and centerit in the socket.

12 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEBDCT 9 m5 sum 10F 3 rII PATENTED UB79 975 SHEET 2 BF 3 APPARATUS FOR-THE COUPLING OF A MOBILE ROLL TRAILERThe invention relates to an apparatus for the coupling of a mobile rolltrailer which is capable of being raised by means of a swan neck of atraction vehicle and which has a coupling jaw adapted for receiving anarm of the swan neck, the coupling jaw having an introduction opening, afront and rear support for the arm, the arm being tapered in width, atleast in the area of its free end, and a receiving means for a positivelocking means effective in the direction of traction.

- It is an object of the invention to provide, in apparatus of the saidtype, a means such that a rapid connection between a roll trailer and atraction'vehicle carrying the swan neck is'ensured, so that the'couplingprocedure can be carried out in the travelling operation andirrespective of inclined positions, within limits, of the arm relativeto the longitudinal axisofthe coupling jaw, such that a to-and-fromaneuvering and in particular further assistants for the carrying on ofthe coupling procedure are not necessary.

These and other objects and advantages of the inven-' tion will appearmore clearly from the following specification, in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I shows a traction vehicle, in the form of a saddle an having aadjustable fifth wheel coupling, and a swan neck connected thereto in adisposition appropriate for the introduction of a swan neck arm into thecoupling jaw of roller trailer. I

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the arrangement shown in FIG. I, the tractorbeing out of alignment with the loading frame and the pivot axis of thecoupling lying being offset relative to the longitudinal center line ofthe trailer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the arrangement shownin FIGS. 1 and 2, thetrailer being inraised condition and being coupled to the tractionvehicle by means of the swan neck. I

FIG. 4 is a side view'corresponding substantially to FIG. 3, the trailerhaving both a coupling jaw and wheels at each end thereof and the saidjaws lying on the longitudinal center line of the trailer.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic side elevation, partly in section, of a swanneck having the tongue thereof engaged with a coupling jaw.

FIG. 6 is a plan of the arrangementshown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a front end view of the trailer showing the coupling jaw orsocket from front to rear.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 5 showing an alternative tongue andcoupling jaw configuration.

The present invention is characterized primarily in that the width ofthe coupling jaw in a zone lying in the area of the introductionopening, at least in its upper area, corresponds to the width of therelated part of the arm, that the coupling jaw behind its zone adaptedto the width of the swan neck is widened at both sides, and that behindthe front support there is provided a centering means for the front endof the arm.

The arrangement of a coupling apparatus according to the inventionrenders possible the carrying out of the coupling procedure also withconsiderable angle deviation between the longitudinal direction of thearm of the swan neck to be introduced into this as the loading frame andthe swan neck are aligned against one another automatically via thecentering means provided for the front end of the swan neck arm as soonas the loading frame is lifted over the swan neck.

In the arrangement of the invention, it may be advantageous to selectthe width'of the coupling jaw in the zonelying in the area of theintroduction opening nal direction of the coupling jaw without breakdownin the coupling procedure to design the arm to be-introduced into thecoupling jaw tapering in width at least over the greatest part of itslength towards its free end. A coordination between the width of theswan neck arm and the-width of the coupling jaw to the effec'tthat thesemust correspond to one another is only necessary I in the zone of theswan neck arm'which lies in its resting position between thecorresponding guides faces provided in the area of the introductionopening of the coupling jaw.

For facilitating the fitting in of the arm of the swan neck in thecoupling jaw it may be of advantage within the scope of the invention towiden downwards the coupling jaw in its area'adjacent to theintroduction 0 enin .Furthermore it ma be ex edient accordin to P g y Pg the invention to allow the lateral walls of the coupling jaw in itsarea bounding directly on'the introduction opening to run outwardsobliquely from one another in order upon fitting in, to avoid a hooking.Referred to the whole length of the coupling jaw these inclined facescorrespond in order of magnitude to phases so that the zone of thecoupling jaw adapted in width to the width of the swan neck arm may lienear the introduction opening.

The centering for the front end of the swan neck arm may within thescope of the invention be formed by centering faces inclined towards oneanother and running obliquely downwards disposedin the coupling jawwhich centering faces with suitable arrangementof the swan neck arm beformed if necessary also for the rear supporting of this. The centeringfaces may within the scope of the invention diverge from the uprightside walls of the coupling jaw or be formed also by suitably inclinedsections of the'side walls of the coupling jaw.

If the centering faces lie in the area of the lower support for the swanneck arm then it has been proved advantageous to arrange the receivingmeans for the positive locking effective in the direction of tractionbevention be advantageous to form the centering faces by means of theinclined walls of a trough in the floor of the coupling jaw in the areaof which the rear support lies.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, a traction vehicle for use inconnection with the. invention comprises a'saddle tractor 1 having afifth wheel coupling 2 thereon, the saddle plate 3 of the couplingreceiving a swan neck 4 by means of which the saddle tractor 1 can beconnected to a roller trailer 5, the rear end of the swan neck includinga tongue engageable with a coupling jaw 6 on the trailer.

The swan neck 4 is of generally Z-shape and comprises a cross piece 7and two arms 8 and 9. The forward end of the arm 8 is fixed to thesaddle plate of the fifth wheel coupling 2, the said arm 8 extendingbeyond the saddle plate and the free-end 10. of the arm preferablycarrying a counterweight 11 whereby the swan neck 4, when the rollertrailer is not coupled, is held in a position of balance suitable forcarrying out the coupling procedure. When the swan neck 4 is in itsbalanced position, the arm 9 thereof is disposed generally horizontally,so that such arm 9 can be pushed into the coupling jaw 6 of the trailer5 simply by moving the saddle tractor 1. Since, as will be explained ingreater detail-hereafter, the construction of the coupling jaw 6according to the invention allows of the coupling together of thetrailer and swan neck arm 9 even though the latter is not aligned withthe center line 12 of the trailer, the coupling procedure may be carriedout both quickly and effectively simply by movement of the tractor.

The construction of the coupling jaw 6 according to the invention andconstructional features of the swan neck 9 necessitated thereby will nowbe described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. Thus, referring now toFIGS. 5 to 8, the coupling jaw 6 provided on the loading frame 5 is ofapproximately box-like form and has an introduction opening 13. Theopening 13, as FIG. 7 shows is rectangular in cross section and isbounded by the free edges of the horizontal upper wall 14, the verticalside walls 15 and the base 16. The base 16, has, as

FIG. 8 shows, an inclined ramp section 17 running downwards towards theintroduction opening 13, thus to give a comparatively great height ofthe introduction opening 13 thereby facilitating the engagement of theswan neck arm 9 with the coupling jaw. At its innermost end the base 16is reinforced by a transversely extending thickened region 18.

As again can be seen from FIG. 7, the base 16 has in the area thereofbounding the ramp section 17, a stepped cross section in which thecentral zone 19 lies lower than the lateral zones 20. The lateral zones20 maybe of cranked form when viewed in cross section, as shown in fullline in FIG. 7 or they may be uniformly inclined as shown partly in fullline and partly in dotted line.

The function of such a construction of the base 16 is to effectcentering of the forward end of the tongue defined by the swan neck arm9 on introduction thereof into the coupling jaws 6. The swan neck armis, in the construction according to the invention, positively located(FIG. 6) only in the area of the introduction opening 13 by means of theside walls 15, such walls, as can be seen from FIG. 6, being spacedapart, in a zone 21 adjacent to the introduction opening by a dis tancewhich corresponds to the width-of that part of the tongue 9 which, inresting position, lies in this area. From the zone 21 the coupling jaw 6is widened in the direction of insertion, the side walls IS'divergingsym' alignment of the tongue relative to the longitudinal axis of thecoupling jaw 6. In the construction shown in FIG. 6, a non-alignment ofan extent corresponding to the angle indicated at 22 between the section15' of a side wall running obliquely outwards and the corresponding sideof the swan neck arm 9 indicated with 9' can be accommodated.

If the swan neck arm 9, during the coupling operation is guided in aswivel position, into the coupling jaw 6 then, upon raising the swanneck, the free end of the arm 9 comes into contact with the centeringfaces formed as in the embodiment of FIG. 7, by the upwardly inclinedlateral zones 20 or, as shown in FIG. 6, by separately inserted guidefaces 23 or the like. As a result of the. forces which come into effecton raising of the swan neck for the connection of the loading frame,-which forces are consequent upon the reaction between the tongue 9 andthe centering faces 20 and 23 respectively, the tongue 9 which wasinitially out of alignment with the coupling jaw is automatically pushedinto the aligned position shown in FIG. 6, the longitudinal axis of theswan neck and of the coupling jaw 6, and thereby also of the trailer 5coinciding, and

thus the roller trailer 5 formstogether with the tractor 1 a mobileunit.

So as to avoid withdrawal of the tongue from the coupling jaw duringtraction, a positive locking means is provided therebetween, such means,in the embodiment according to FIGS. 5 and 6, comprising a nose piece24, engageable with a receiving device 26 provided in the upper wall 14of the coupling jaw 6 and adjacent the forward end thereof, the nosepiece 24 being disposed in the area of a front support 25 of the tongue.

FIG. 8 shows an alternative form of positive locking means. In the caseof the embodiment of FIG. 8, a receiving means 2.7 is provided in thearea of the rear support 28 defined by the thickened region 18 apartspherical nose piece 29 formed at the extremity of the tongue beingengageable with the receiving means. By means of a positive lockingmeans of the kind shown in FIG. 8 the swan neck arm, after reaching itsresting position, is also fixed laterally, such lateral securingotherwise being effected in the area of the rear support by thecentering faces.

-As can be seen from FIG. 6, the zone 21 whereat the width of thecoupling jaw corresponds to the width of the related zoneof the swanneck arm 9 in the engaged position of the tongue, lies at acomparatively small distance from the introduction opening 13 inrelation to the length of the coupling jaw, those parts of the sidewalls 15 which lie between the zone 21 and the introduction opening 13preferably diverging outwardly of the jaw thus to. facilitate theinsertion procedure. For facilitating the introduction procedure andalso for rendering possible greater oblique positions in the couplingprocedure it is furthermore expedient to constructthe swan neck arm 9,as can be seen from FIG. 6, tapering towards its free end. Furthermore,the free end of the swan neck arm may advantageously be rounded, as seenin plan view, in order to prevent a drive abutment on initial insertionand to achieve an additional guiding action. I

In FIG. 4, in contradistinction to the arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2, aroll trailer 5' is shown which is provided both with runner wheels andwith a coupling jaw 6' at each end. The trailer 5 has a centrallongitudinal bearer 30 the opposite ends of which is formed as acoupling jaw 6, whereby a particularly space saving arrangement for thecoupling jaw 6" results. The construction of the coupling jaw 6'corresponds to that coupling jaw 6 in the embodiments already shown. Byarranging for runner wheels and coupling jaws 6' at each end of thetrailer the maneuverability is still further improved.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by nomeans, limited to the specific showing in the drawings, but alsocomprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a coupling apparatus for coupling a trailer vehicle to a tractionvehicle, a coupling jaw on one vehicle and a coupling arm on the othervehicle, said coupling jaw having a longitudinal socket formed thereinwith vertically facing top and bottom walls and laterally facing sidewalls, said socket having an entrance at the front end into which theend portion of said arm is introduced, the portion of said armreceivable in said socket tapering inwardly toward the free end thereof,vertically facing longitudinally spaced support surfaces on the top andbottom walls of said socket engageable with vertically facing surfacesof said portion of said arm, interengageable elements of forcetransmitting means on said arm and jaw to transmit longitudinal forcesbetween the vehicles and interengaging upon upward movement of one ofsaid jaw and arm, said side walls of said socket having'opposed regionswhich are spaced substantially the same distance as the width of thatpart of said portion of said arm which is adjacent thereto when the armis disposed in the jaw, said side walls of said socket taperingoutwardly rearwardly from said regions, and centering means in saidsocket rearwardly from said regions for engagement with the said portionof said arm near the free end thereof for centering said arm in saidjaw.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1. in which at least the side wallsof said socket taper outwardly forwardly of said regions thereof.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said 6 regions areparallel over the entire height of said socket.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which saidcentering meanscomprises upwardly facing inclined portions upstanding from the bottomwall of said socket and divergent in their upward direction andengageable with said arm from below.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclined portionsextend to the said side walls of said socket.

6. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclined portions arepart of the said side walls of said socket. I

7. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclined portionsform a part of the rearwardly disposed one of said support surfaces insaid socket.

8. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclined portionsincline upwardly in respectively opposite directions from thelongitudinal center line of said socket.

9. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclined portions areformed by inclined walls of a trough region formed in the bottom wall ofsaid socket near the rear end thereof.

10. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which the side of said armwhich faces said inclined portions is correspondingly inclined.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which one of the said supportsurface in said socket is near the front end thereof and comprises adownwardly facing horizontal surface disposed at the top of the socketand engageable with said arm from above.

12. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said jaw is on saidtrailer vehicle and said arm is on said traction vehicle, a region ofsaid arm spaced in the forward direction from said one end portionthereof swivelly connected to said traction vehicle, and means forraising and lowering said region of said arm on said traction vehiclefor coupling and uncoupling of said coupling apparatus.

1. In a coupling apparatus for coupling a trailer vehicle to a tractionvehicle, a coupling jaw on one vehicle and a coupling arm on the othervehicle, said coupling jaw having a longitudinal socket formed thereinwith vertically facing top and bottom walls and laterally facing sidewalls, said socket having an entrance at the front end into which theend portion of said arm is introduced, the portion of said armreceivable in said socket tapering inwardly toward the free end thereof,vertically facing longitudinally spaced support surfaces on the top andbottom walls of said socket engageable with vertically facing surfacesof said portion of said arm, interengageable elements of forcetransmitting means on said arm and jaw tO transmit longitudinal forcesbetween the vehicles and interengaging upon upward movement of one ofsaid jaw and arm, said side walls of said socket having opposed regionswhich are spaced substantially the same distance as the width of thatpart of said portion of said arm which is adjacent thereto when the armis disposed in the jaw, said side walls of said socket taperingoutwardly rearwardly from said regions, and centering means in saidsocket rearwardly from said regions for engagement with the said portionof said arm near the free end thereof for centering said arm in saidjaw.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which at least the sidewalls of said socket taper outwardly forwardly of said regions thereof.3. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said regions are parallelover the entire height of said socket.
 4. An apparatus according toclaim 1 in which said centering means comprises upwardly facing inclinedportions upstanding from the bottom wall of said socket and divergent intheir upward direction and engageable with said arm from below.
 5. Anapparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclined portions extend tothe said side walls of said socket.
 6. An apparatus according to claim 4in which said inclined portions are part of the said side walls of saidsocket.
 7. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclinedportions form a part of the rearwardly disposed one of said supportsurfaces in said socket.
 8. An apparatus according to claim 4 in whichsaid inclined portions incline upwardly in respectively oppositedirections from the longitudinal center line of said socket.
 9. Anapparatus according to claim 4 in which said inclined portions areformed by inclined walls of a trough region formed in the bottom wall ofsaid socket near the rear end thereof.
 10. An apparatus according toclaim 4 in which the side of said arm which faces said inclined portionsis correspondingly inclined.
 11. An apparatus according to claim 1 inwhich one of the said support surface in said socket is near the frontend thereof and comprises a downwardly facing horizontal surfacedisposed at the top of the socket and engageable with said arm fromabove.
 12. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said jaw is onsaid trailer vehicle and said arm is on said traction vehicle, a regionof said arm spaced in the forward direction from said one end portionthereof swivelly connected to said traction vehicle, and means forraising and lowering said region of said arm on said traction vehiclefor coupling and uncoupling of said coupling apparatus.